Summer Rain Taps on My Frameset

Father's Day Giro heads out along Lakeshore Drive

At home nothing but back-to-back Giro Rides last weekend was actually pretty relaxing despite the rapidly escalating summer heat. Along with that summer heat, though, come the unpredictable summer thunderstorms that can turn a nice sunny afternoon into a terrifying episode of blowing rain, lightning, thunder and flooding. It's just one of those things you come to expect once the weather pattern settles down for the summer.

I spent some time last weekend re-organizing the club race equipment. It was badly needed after the Tour, which was the third race (5th if you count the thee TDL stages separately, which I do) we've organized so far this year. It was also time to start thinking a bit about my own somewhat neglected bike, especially once I got the reminder from my Garmin app that my chain had reached its 2,500 mile limit. I always set up a reminder so that I'm not tempted to let the chain go over 3,000 miles, which practically guarantees the need for a new cassette. It also give me a little time to hunt around for a Campi Record chain on sale. I know I don't really need to be using the expensive Campi chains, but it's one of the few indulgences I allow for the Bianchi, and the easiest to provide. Besides the routine chain replacement, I'm also kicking around what to do about the rather badly worn chainrings that are now about as rare as hen's teeth because Campi changed the bolt design after only a year or two, and then a couple of years later moved to 12-speed. From what I can see, it might be cheaper to buy a whole new 11-speed crankset on sale (since the last 11-speed generation has been superseded by the 12-speed stuff) than to get new chainrings. I'm also trying to track down replacement handlebars. I really like the aluminum 3T Ergosum bars that I have been using, so of course 3T stopped making them. I can either try another brand, pay roughly four times as much for the carbon ones, or get the Ergonova that has a super-short reach and might necessitate a longer stem. Meanwhile, I need to sell those 40.5 Bont Vaypor S shoes now that I've pretty much decided to stick with the 41s. Those shoes were around $340, so it would be nice to recover some of that rather than hang onto them as backup shoes that I'd probably never need.

The ride back along the levee was pretty intense. At one point I thought the crosswind was going to blow me off the road.

Anyway, after an easy Monday ride I headed out on Tuesday morning after a quick check of weather radar that looked just fine. Perhaps the check was a bit too quick. I knew that rain was in the forecast, but was still surprised to find only one other person up on the levee at 6 am. I'd made it across the train tracks just before a train came through, so we waited for the train to pass, thinking there must be some people stuck on the other side. There weren't any, however. Perhaps they knew something I didn't? The other rider turned back six or seven miles later as he usually does, so I continued on alone, planning to turn around at the Big Dip. Things were going fine until I was almost there and started to feel some light rain. Looking up ahead I could see an ominous dark cloud, but since I was only a mile from the turnaround I kept going. A couple of miles after I turned around the light rain turned in to moderate rain, and then the moderate rain turned in a torrential, horizontal-rain, downpour that never really let up all the way back. For a few miles the rain was pelting my legs so hard that it hurt, and I could hear it tapping loudly on the carbon frame. I got back home soaked to the skin and had to pour the water out of my shoes after removing them. I really need to remember to drill a hole in the bottom of each shoe. I had the same problem with my older Bont shoes.

Seriously. How hard is it to stay between the white lines?

By the time I was ready for work the rain was gone and I ended up taking the bike to work as usual. Typical summer rainstorm. Along the way I stopped on the Broad Street Overpass to take a few photos of the damage that motorists had already done to the bollards that are "protecting" the new bike lane. There are at least four of them that have already been completely broken off from their attachments, and probably another thirty or forty that have obviously been hit and/or run over. All I can conclude is that these drivers are just not looking where they are going, which as a cyclist is rather frightening. I mean, it's not like these great big white things are hard to see, and I'm pretty sure they aren't jumping out in front of the cars.

This afternoon I'll be heading out to the lakefront to officiate the first of the four Wednesday evening races. It will be a rush to get out there in time, and keeping track of riders in the combined-category races will be a challenge as usual. I was at the dentist this morning getting the "healing cap" screwed onto the post that was implanted a few months ago, making it the third time the dentist has taken a scalpel to that spot. At the moment it still hurts, despite the Aleve I took a couple of hours ago. I'm hoping it doesn't make me too miserable this evening.

Calling All NOLA Dino Riders

It's the 50th anniversary of the New Orleans Bicycle Club, and we're having a little post-Tour party over at Wrong Iron on the Greenway, right next-door to Bayou Bicycles, on June 23. In addition to all of our Tour de Louisiane sponsors, volunteers and NOBC club members we'd like to invite all of our NOBC alumni and other area cycling dinosaurs who raced back in the 70's, 80's and 90's when nobody complained about doing 80 mile unsupported road races in July while wearing leather-lined baggy wool shorts, jerseys with front pockets stinky leather gloves, questionable helmets, and cleats barely nailed onto flexy leather-soled shoes. Come on over and recount your highly embellished tales of cycling prowess and former glory. I'd email all of you, but I know those old .aol email IDs are probably just going to bounce anyway, I'm posting this here and asking that you pass it along to your old riding buddies by whatever means available. We have the outdoor, sheltered Smoky Mary room reserved.  Wrong Iron is 21 and up only.
https://www.wrongiron.com/

Tour de La - Triumphs and Tribulations

I was feeling pretty glum this time last week. The long-range weather forecast was calling for a miserable rainy weekend for the 48th annual Tour de Louisiane stage race, and after all of the work everybody had put into the event planning it was going to be really disappointing to have a super-low turnout, not to mention how far in the red the event finances would fall. With only two days left for pre-registration there were only about 40 people signed up. Riders who lived far away were asking me if the race would be cancelled, if there would be flooding, etc.  In my head, I was figuring out how we might combine and/or shorten races to accommodate what would be tiny field sizes on wet roads.

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy! 

And then the weather gods took notice and suddenly the rain chances started to drop with each passing hour. On Thursday, the last day that pre-registration was open, 68 riders registered, which would turn out to be slightly more than half of the entire race. By Friday morning it was clear that rain wasn't going to be a significant issue, and we all breathed signs of relief. Mignon had spent months making arrangements with the Northshore Humane Society for a little dog adoption event, along with face-painting for the kids, and had raised sponsorship from the local Subaru dealer who would drive ahead of the Cat. 1/2/3 field for the neutral lap. We had a ton of primes to give out, and just a couple of weeks earlier Chris Mogridge of Mercury Wheels had told Mike Lew over at Gray Cat Cycleworx that he would donate a set of carbon wheels and we'd decided to give every registered rider a chance to win them and also a chance to buy additional raffle tickets. We'd raised a bit over $6k in cash sponsorship, which would at least cover the $5k prizelist plus some cash primes and trophies and stuff. Even so, with the 129 or so riders who ultimately registered we would probably not quite break even after paying police for three different venues plus officiating and lodging. Anyway, by Friday I was feeling pretty good about things even though we had already lost two of the four moto-refs we'd been hoping to have for the road race. After giving Mignon the boxes of trophies and a bunch of traffic cones and the big caution signs, and giving Christian the water coolers and ice chests, I packed the Volvo up to the roof with everything else and around 4 pm headed across the lake to the Holiday Inn. That night a thunderstorm skirted just north of the area, but it looked like that would be the last of the rain.

A solo break in the criterium sealed the deal for 17 year old Logan

I was up at 5 am on Saturday for the 45 minute drive up to Stoney Point to set up the road race. We have this process down pretty well, so that all went smoothly as Fred drove around the course putting up the signage and Ricky set up the official's shelters and finish line cameras. Right across from the finish line is a family that raises quail, and they were setting up to sell pickled eggs, boiling crawfish, and selling other goodies that I wished I could try but really didn't have a chance to.

Erich and Kenny at the Criterium

That's about when someone drove up and said that the church hadn't been told about the race (we send them a $500 check every year). It turned out that our contact for the church isn't technically part of the church any more but had given us the OK and then forgotten to tell the pastor. Luckily there wasn't a funeral of something that morning!  The races went off on time under a sunny sky and everything went well except for one rider who was bitten by a dog during warm-up (the sheriff took care of that) and a minor crash about a mile before the finish of the Masters race (we eventually gave them all pack time). One of our two surviving moto-refs rolled in after the race with about 15 psi in his front tire.  Yeah, the moto-ref flatted!  It turned out he had multiple punctures, but luckily they were able to plug them so he could limp back home.  One of the other motos was doing finish line duty with us because his clutch had gone out a couple of days before and he was without his bike. We cleaned up the area and packed everything back into vehicles and I headed for the hotel to post results to the website, facebook, email, etc. and print them out to post at the 5:30 pm time trial. I had just enough time to wolf down a McDonald's hamburger before heading over to the TT course. As usual, the TT went smoothly and a few hours later I was back at the hotel with Ricky plugging finish times into the computer and again posting and printing results. Then Ricky, Mignon, Steve, Kenny and I walked over to Copeland's for dinner where I indulged in a big glass of wine.

The dogs had their own special bib numbers for
the Parade of Paws

Sunday morning the Covington criterium seemed a little more chaotic than usual. I had decided to move the finish line upstream a bit from prior years in order to be a little closer to the park where all the action, and the podium, was. We got the long USAC banners and a few sponsor banners set up along the finish area and then got word that the police down at the other end of the course were not going to close the road!  Huh?  We'd met with the city and the police a week or so earlier and everything seemed fine since we were doing exactly the same thing we'd done for a number of years prior, so everybody knew what to do and where the course went etc. Well, it turned out that someone must have bitched to the state police the year before and they in turn came down on the city police for closing the one block of state road that the course uses. Hence, they were refusing to barricade the street... for a criterium.  The compromise was that they would block the street with their cars during the races, but open the street in-between races (there were 15-minute gaps between races).

The dogs got to share the podium with the winners.

I sent Christian down there with a safety vest and flag because I wasn't comfortable with the whole thing and riders were freaking out thinking the road would be open to traffic. Randy H was already down at the restaurant where pedestrians have to cross the course to get to Sunday brunch.

There was champagne from Apolline Restaurant for the podium

Next year we'll have to get a permit from the state police for that one block of road, and I'd like to figure out how to get about 20 volunteers to serve as course marshals to keep cars off of the course because it is always a problem despite the signage and traffic cones and such. Although the city puts up no-parking signs there were at least four cars parked on the course. One was on the outside of a turn in the worst possible location, so we made arrangements to get a tow truck there after the women's race because the next race would have one of the largest fields of the day and would likely be going somewhat faster. So as we're getting ready to score the finish of the women, I see them come around the final turn, except that one or two of them seem to just go straight rather than turning.  Bad sign.  Someone had overlapped wheels and sent one of the women onto the sidewalk where she had fortunately missed the various poles and things but slammed into the side of a building with her head and left side. The Fire department is on site for medical emergencies, but we brought in an ambulance for that one. She turned out to be OK after getting checked out at the hospital. Anyway the rest of the races went great and with Erich serving up the tunes and Kenny delivering race commentary and announcing, and all of the cameras working well, it was really a pretty nice event. There was champagne for the winners on the podium under the oak trees, and the Parade of Paws was a big hit that hopefully generated some good exposure for the Humane Society. Stephanie Smith, who was racing in the Masters race, ended up in 4th.

Prior to the start of the Cat. 1/2/3 race we had the Parade of Paws where the dogs up for adoption got to walk the finish stretch while Kenny read a little bio on each. We got the riders lined up behind the Subaru lead car for the neutral lap and everything seemed under control ..... until we saw the field come around the last corner without the lead vehicle.  Turned out the police thought the car was just some car that had gotten on the course and they stopped it!  Sigh...  Anyway, the Cat. 1/2/3 race was won by 17-year-old Logan McLain, and there wasn't too much controversy after the leader of the Cat. 3/4 race skipped a pedal and dropped a chain during that race and the announcer told him to go take a free lap that wasn't technically legal, but once he went to the pit and stopped after being told to do so we couldn't really then tell him to chase since the pack was halfway around the course by then.

By the end we were all pretty exhausted, but I think it was a great race and everybody had a good time, so I guess it was worth it once again. I went home, unloaded the car again, published the results and poured myself a big glass of wine. Forty-eight years. There were only 20 riders who had even been born when the first Tour de La was held, and most of those were still in diapers then. Overall, I thought this was one of the best efforts we've made in recent years despite the unpredictable problems. Mignon really went above and beyond, handling the Parade of Paws, face painting, payments to all of the officials and police, organizing the podiums, awards, and primes. Pat and Christian, and Randy and especially Fred did a lot of the heavy lifting Saturday and Sunday, and on Saturday morning all of our follow car volunteers like Ty and Chip and Brandon were there and ready to go. With Ricky and Steve and Mark officiating, I was able to just concentrate on the results and handle the surprises like the road closure situation, the crash, the cars parked on the course, etc.  It was a good year. Perhaps if we can work around Tulsa Tough which always seems to schedule on the same weekend, we can get back to the larger field sizes we have had in the past.

Hammers in Hammond

2 of 3

Last weekend was the Hammerdal Classic in nearby Hammond Louisiana. The race is named after Peter av Hammerdal, a Swedish guy after whom the city was named after Anglicizing the poor guy's name to Hammond. This year, rather than the three criteriums they offered last year, they had a short road race up the road near Loranger on some of the roads we used to use for the Tour de Louisiane, which BTW will be next weekend. I was up at 5 am on Saturday to load up the car with most of the LAMBRA equipment and make the hour's drive to the road race venue. Turnout for this race was fairly good. There was no cash in the prizelist, but there were also low entry fees. I was signed up for the oldest of the old, as usual, and was mainly using the race for some much-needed intensity on the heels of the prior weekend's short race up in Tupelo. On the plus side, there were three officials on hand, so I was just helping to transport equipment and set up the start/finish.

The Masters 40+ group had a nice little field of about a dozen riders. The course was low rolling hills typical of the area - nothing dramatic, but providing occasional opportunities for those so inclined. Well, we weren't more than a couple of miles into the short 38 mile road race when the first attack happened, much to the dismay of those of us who need half an hour to get warmed up.  Within the first mile or two I was at 32 mph and 165 bpm and thinking how embarrassing it would be to get dropped before the first turn. Fortunately, things came back together which quite predictably and no doubt according to plan allowed Kevin Landry to launch off the front, solo, a few miles later. With a couple of teammates at the front and such a small field, there was essentially no effort to chase and his gap grew quickly to I guess around 45 seconds. By the end of the first of three laps he had close to a minute on the field, but I remember thinking that, considering our pace, I would have expected him to be much farther up the road by then. Well, a few miles into the second lap we see him standing on the side of the road holding up a wheel. He'd been riding on a soft tire for miles and it finally went completely flat and forced him wait for the wheel truck which was following us. At that point I thought his teammates would either try to slow the pace (most likely), or launch an attack. Surprisingly, neither happened. About halfway around on second lap his teammates were still on the front and there were a few strong surges, so I figured they had looked back and not seen Kevin chasing and figured he was out of the race. As it turned out, he'd been chasing his ass off wondering why his teammates were on the front.  Anyway, nothing got away on the last lap, so it came down to a sprint among the remaining riders. I was 5th behind Noel who came past me right at the line.

After that I packed up and headed over to Gray Cat Cycleworx to hang out and chat with Mike Lew who had just gotten me a deal on some new race wheels from Mercury Wheels that I needed to pay for. Mercury is owned by a friend of ours, Chris Mogridge, who started out in Mississippi but then moved out west to Ogden UT. I'm still a little uncertain how I'll like these modern, somewhat heavier, more aero carbon wheels, but I've been racing on my trusty Rolf Sestriere wheels that I also got from Mike when I got my steel Cervelo way, way back around 2000, and I figured that 18 or 19 years was about as long as I could expect those aluminum spoke nipples to survive. Anyway, in the process, Mike talked Chris into donating a set of carbon wheels to the Tour de Louisiane.  I think we will give every rider who enters a raffle ticket for those, and then sell additional tickets at the race to see if we can raise a few bucks for the Northshore Humane Society that the race is benefiting this year. I never did actually eat lunch, so I headed over to the nearby park for the evening criteriums fueled by a couple of granola bars and soft drinks. I spent an hour or so getting the crit start/finish set up with the barricades and USAC banners and all, plus the work lights that Dustin had brought since the last race would be finishing in the dark.

The Master's race was pretty predictable except for the rain. Shortly after the start the rain began, and although the road surface was pretty good, and there aren't any sharp turns on the loop, it still required a little more caution than usual. A couple of very early attacks to set up Kevin who was off the front by the time we were three or four laps into the 40-minute race, but was pulled back fairly quickly. Things were fairly steady for a while after that, but eventually he took off again to solo in for the win. I ended up 6th in that one, and was pretty happy with how I felt even though I had spent most of the time sitting in toward the back. The Cat. 1/2/3 race was last, and I was happy that the two sets of work lights shining on the finish line provided just enough light to make the finish line camera useful. I drove back home after that, posted the day's results to the website, and went to sleep around midnight with the alarm set for 5:15 am. Back in Hammond Sunday morning I did the Master's race, this time on the same course but in the opposite direction and without rain. Acadiana had at least one additional rider in the field for this one, and there were a few other riders who hadn't raced on Saturday, so that was nice. We were only about four laps into the race when an attack put three riders off the front. I was still toward the back waiting for my heart rate to figure out that I was racing, but couldn't help but say to whoever was listening, "Really? You had to know this was going to happen, right?" Anyway, I went to the front briefly, hoping to encourage a serious chase, but without much effect, so those three riders road away pretty easily as the group settled down, content to let Kevin's teammates soft-pedal at the front. Eventually the break lapped the field, of course. I was hoping that they would just blow through the pack and was primed to go with them, but that didn't happen and everything just stayed together for a kind of messy sprint through the curves that I started from way too far back. I ended up 8th in that one, which was a little disappointing I guess. In all, the second criterium was a little easier than the first had been, at least for me, probably because I spent most of it just sitting on the back as a spectator.